Home canning or preserving of perishable food items is a popular method for enabling a person to store items that otherwise would spoil, if not subjected to refrigeration or freezing. As is known to those who enjoy home canning, it is of the upmost importance that the canning implements; i.e. the jars, bands and seals be sterilized before they are used. Since home canning utilizes heat to attain such a sterile condition of the canning implements, this heating has typically required the use of a large steam bath, a double boiler or a similar stove-top heating device.
In the canning or preserving of perishable food items, the particular items to be canned or preserved are first cooked or are otherwise subjected to elevated temperature. This process eliminates any bacteria that might have been present in the food items and renders these items safe for preservation. The heated food items are then placed, while in their heated condition, into suitable, sterilized canning jars. The jars are then covered with seals. The seals are then held in place on top of the glass jars by the tightening of screw threaded, jar neck engaging bands. The now canned food items are allowed to cool. As the contents of the jars cool, they will contract and will form a vacuum in the sealed jars. It is important that the evacuated area be free from contaminants. It is the inert evacuated head space that preserves the food product which has been canned or preserved. It is the sterility of the canning implements that insures the maintenance of that inert evacuated head space.
Canning jars, bands or rings and seals are typically sterilized by being placed in boiling water in a water bath or in a canning pot. Such a pot, or a similar double boiler, sits on the top of the stove and takes up a considerable amount of space. Since the food items or products which are to be canned, are also being kept at an elevated temperature, the result is a substantial reduction in the space on the stove top available for preparation of the food to be preserved.
The typical water bath or canning pot holds a substantial amount of hot water into which the canning jars, rings or bands, and seals are immersed. While it is not necessary to use hot water as the sterilization medium, it is the heat that accomplishes the sterilization. The seals are best kept moist to ensure that the resilient portion, which forms a seal with the jar neck finish, stays soft and pliable. Otherwise, dry heat would be just as effective in sterilizing the jars and bands. However, in stove top water bath pots or the like, the source of heat is the hot water in the pot. This large volume of hot water, in addition to taking up a large amount of otherwise usable space, is also a safety concern. If the pot is upset, the hot water poses a serious scalding hazard.
The canning jars, and their associated bands or rings and seals are placed in the water bath or canning pot, typically in some type of rack. When it is desired to use a jar, the rack must be elevated out of the pot and the jar then removed. Again, there is a potential risk involved with the use of such a large volume of hot water. Alternatively, a single jar may be removed from the boiling water by the use of a pair of tongs, tweezers, or other similar gripping tool. That procedure is cumbersome and essentially requires the user to attempt to grasp articles which are not readily visible.
If the typical water bath or canning pot were not required for sterilization of the canning jars, bands, and seals, there would be made available at least one additional burner element on the stove top. This at least one additional burner could be used to prepare the food products that are to be canned. Even if the stove top element required to heat the water bath or other pot were not used instead to heat food products being prepared for canning, there would simply be more space available to undertake the cooking activities.
It will thus be seen that a need exists for a canning implement sterilization rack that overcomes the limitations of the prior devices. The oven-supportable canning implement sterilization rack in accordance with the present invention overcomes these limitations of the prior art. It is a substantial advance over the prior art.